Tough Love for Comics

So, another San Diego Comic Con’s come and gone, filled with tantalizing news and previews of the comic books, films, television shows and videogames that we will all discuss during the coming year. I’m here to provide you with a guide to some of the more interesting announcements and previews buried in the four day flood of information.

Intriguing Announcements

David Brothers of Comics Alliance reports that Marvel plans to release Thor and Loki: Blood Brothers, a motion comic produced with studio Magnetic Dreams that will be released in April of next year (around the time the Thor movie is scheduled to premiere). The Spider Woman motion comic was pretty terrible (and I still don’t understand the appeal of motion comics at all), but this image looks very cool. Marvel is introducing a new method of animation for this project, which will incorporate more “movement and dynamic action”. I just hope that the animation looks better than the infamous Marvel cartoons from the 1960’s. Brothers notes that Blood Brothers “is based on Robert Rodi and Esad Ribic’s 2004 miniseries Loki, [a] fully-painted series [that] took a different route than most stories about Thor. Rather than being cast as the villain of the series, Loki explored Marvel’s Asgardian mythology from the trickster’s point of view. He was a sad and melancholy character, and demonstrated a depth of character rarely seen in his usual appearances.” It’d be interesting to see if this project hints at the direction Marvel Studios will go with the Loki character in the Thor film. Marvel’s done a decent job of creating compelling villains in the Hulk and two Iron Man films, and it’d be great to see that trend continue. According to Brothers, the teaser for this comic is a ‘San Diego Comic Con exclusive, but may show up online at some point in the future.

Rich Johnston announced that Grant Morrison will be working on the screenplay for Sinatoro, an interactive thriller that wil be directed by Adam Egypt Mortimer.

The film, which Morrison describes as a “hallucinatory road trip into the American psyche” will incorporate some of Morrison’s ideas about interactive/participatory entertainment in both the narrative and the production process. Check out Johnston’s interview with Mortimer and Morrison here.

In other Grant Morrison news, he announced the new chapter in his historic run on the Batman family of titles – Batman, Inc . at the Batman: the Return panel on Friday. According to Morrison, this will be more of a team book in which Bruce Wayne develops a Batman franchise of sorts. According to a must-read interview with IGN, Morrison will use this series (which will feature art from Yanick Paquette) to introduce a well-integrated Batman who is more capable of incorporating the philanthropeneurial methods and tactics that one would associate with Bruce Wayne (i.e., replicating effective demonstration projects). He also has some great comments on video games, Supergods, Roy Thomas’ classic Kree/Skrull War Avengers arc (!) and dreams. David Brothers has more details in his Comics Alliance recap. CBR interviewed Dan Didio here. Morrison will also collaborate with Geoff Johns on an untitled project of some kind. The trend of superhero franchises also continues with Geoff Johns’ Speed Force , which will follow the adventures of heroes from the Flash corner of the DC Universe.

Jonathan Hickman and Carlos Pacheco will collaborate on an Ultimate Thor miniseries for Marvel in October, which will be released digitally, day and date, through Marvel’s ComiXology iTunes application. There’s no word on whether the series will also be released through the company’s Digital Comics Unlimited initiative. Ultimate Thor will explore the emnity between Thor and Loki. I like the character sketches that have appeared on iFanboy and Comics Alliance, but I kind of wish that this was treading new ground. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Sebastian Fiumara are also collaborating on a Loki miniseries that will come out this October.

In 2011, Marvel will bring back Strange Tales for a second volume, featuring the work of… let’s just say almost everyone in indie comics who didn’t contribute to the first Strange Tales mini. According to Robot 6 , this series will be spread out over three giant-sized issues. The site provides an exhaustive list of contributors, including: Alex Robinson, Dash Shaw, Farel Dalyrmple, Frank Santoro, Gene Yang, Gilbert Hernandez, Harvey Pekar, Jaime Hernandez, Jeff Lemire, Jeffrey Brown, Jhonen Vasquez, Jillian Tamaki, Jon Vermilyea, Kate Beaton, Nick Gurewitch, Paul Hornschemeier, Paul Maybury, Rafael Grampa, Shannon Wheeler, Terry Moore, Tim Hamilton, Tony Millionaire, Benjamin Marra, Sheldon Vella and Ty Templeton. I’ll say this – it’s cool that all of these creators are getting checks from Marvel. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first volume (which felt a little too tongue-in-cheek), but I’ll give this a whirl, especially with a cover by Rafael Grampa.

David Lapham’s doing a Kull miniseries for Dark Horse this November with art by Gabriel Guzman. I’m not very familiar with Kull, but he’s a proto-Conan character developed by Robert E. Howard. Lapham discusses the project in more detail at CBR.

I don’t play video games, but a Suicide Squad videogame? Consider me on-board. Diane Nelson, the newly enshrined president of DC Entertainment, noted that this game was a part of a broader effort to put more DC characters in videogames produced by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Robot 6 reports that “[t]he studio’s video-game publishing unit has undergone dramatic expansion over the past few years, acquiring developers TT Games, Snowblind Studios, Rocksteady Studios and Turbine Inc., and in March announcing plans for a new game-development studio in downtown Montreal.” It’s far too premature to reach any conclusions on this, but this looks like the kind of positive-sum collaboration between the content businesses at Time Warner that she discussed in her early interviews with the Beat , Newsarama and Comics Alliance. It particularly fits with her principle of “creat[ing] the best content for each medium while maintaining the integrity of how these characters and stories were designed for the physical books “.

Top Shelf unveiled some artwork from the second chapter of Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen:Century , scheduled for release in 2011.

Set in the late 1960’s, this chapter will feature the League encountering the counterculture. From the solicit:

“CHAPTER TWO takes place almost sixty years later in the psychedelic daze of Swinging London during 1968, a place where Tadukic Acid Diethylamide 26 is the drug of choice, and where different underworlds are starting to overlap dangerously to an accompaniment of sit-ins and sitars. The vicious gangster bosses of London’s East End find themselves brought into contact with a counter-culture underground of mystical and medicated flower-children, or amoral pop-stars on the edge of psychological disintegration and developing a taste for Satanism.”

Kieron Gillen, author of FBB favorites Phonogram, Dark Avengers: Ares, S.W.O.R.D., Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter, Thor, and that recent Loki special, will be the new writer on Generation: Hope , which will follow the stories of the five individuals who became mutants at the end of the Second Coming crossover. The art looks terrible, but it’s Gillen, so I kind of want to give it a shot. He does a great job of selling the premise at IGN.

Archaia announced that it will bring Cyclops , a French graphic novel by Alexis Nolent (Matz) and Luc Jacamon to the United States in the spring of 2011 as a mini-series. This gorgeous looking book, originally published in 2006, is a futuristic story about the blurred lines between combat and entertainment in a world where war is privatized. Take a look at CBR’s interview with Matz for more.

At the Vertigo: On the Edge panel, Shelley Bond, edtior of John Constantine: Hellblazer , announced that Constantine may be getting married in the 275th issue. I’m amazed that the series has lasted so many issues and that the character is about a quarter-century old. Current writer Peter Milligan’s work on this book has improved by leaps and bounds since his underwhelming first arc, and I’m really looking forward to this. Check out the hilarious cover for issue 272, the first issue of this arc at the link.

In other Vertigo news, Rich Johnston reports that Karen Berger confirmed that all Vertigo characters (other than Constantine) that started in the DC Universe were returning to the ‘editorial mandate’ of the DC Universe. Our own Chris Eckert raised some interesting questions about the veracity and relevance of this story. I assume Rich reported what he heard, but I still think this is a non-story (but a fine topic for a brief blog entry). Vertigo hasn’t done anything interesting with Swamp Thing in over a decade, and the titles featuring ‘shared characters’ such as Zatanna and Madame Xanadu are almost always a creative and commercial disappointment. I think that Berger was correct when she stated that “Vertigo is at its very best when creating new and interesting comics.”

Kelly Sue DeConnick and Emma Rios are telling the next chapter in Norman Osborn’s life with the five issue Osborn miniseries, due in stores this November. According to a great interview with the two creators conducted by Newsarama, the story will take place in the Third Wing of the ‘black prison site’ that Norman is transferred to after his downfall, with five unidentified individuals DeConnick describes as “the cream of a particularly nasty crop”. I loved DeConnick’s work on the Rescue and Sif specials, as well as her contribution to Girl Comics. I’m looking forward to see what she does next.

Jeff Parker and Gabriel Hardman (the team behind the recently cancelled Atlas) have been announced as the new creative team on Marvel’s Hulk series (which follows the adventures of Gen. Thunderbolt Ross as the ‘Red Hulk’) in September 2010. In their first arc, entitled “Scorched Earth”, Ross will grapple with the legacy of the Intelligentsia, the consortium of villains that Ross worked with in the “Fall of the Hulks” crossover. Check out these initial character sketches from Hardman, via Comics Alliance. If anyone can resuscitate this creatively bankrupt title, its Jeff Parker.

Brian Bendis will add the Red Hulk to the cast of the Avengers book in November. h/t Robot 6.

Winners were announced on Saturday for the 22nd Annual Eisner Awards. The Beat did a liveblog. Craig Fischer provided some insights into the nomination process.

Speaking of Will Eisner, his classic A Contract With God is being adapted into a feature film, with principal photography scheduled to begin in 2011. The directors on the project (according to the press release) include Alex Rivera (“Sleep Dealer”); Tze Chun (“Children of Invention”); Barry Jenkins (“Medicine for Melancholy”); and Sean Baker (“Prince of Broadway”). via Robot 6.

Robert Kirkman discussed The Walking Dead, Astounding Wolfman and Skybound , his new vanity Image imprint at the Image Comics panel. For more, click the link.

Marvel announced a new Power Man and Iron Fist title written by Fred van Lente with art by Wellington Alves that will be released this August. The five-issue miniseries will spin out of the events of the Shadowland event, and will feature Iron Fist and a new Power Man.

John Byrne will bring the Next Men series, which has been on hiatus since 1995, to IDW. IDW previously collected existing material in two oversized black and white volumes. A third will come to stores this September.

Marvel may revive some properties from Crossgen, the famed (and embattled) comic publishing company from the early aughts. CrossGen went bankrupt in 2004, and its assets were purchased by Disney later that year. Tim O’Shea of Robot 6 listed six series he’d like to see return in 2011.

Frank Miller confirmed that Xerxes, a prequel to the blockbuster comic and film 300 would be released in 2011.

Marvel will end its immensely popular Amazing Spider Man: Brand New Day series after over 100 issues in October with the “Origin of the Species” storyline penned by Mark Waid. Dan Slott will take over the title, which will now be bi-weekly, with issue 648. Spider Man will still have an impressive artistic team, as Slott will work with Humberto Ramos, Marcos Martin and Stefano Caselli. The ‘brain trust’ of creators behind Brand New Day gave a great interview to Comic Book Resources, which can be read here. Slott noted that the readers would see Peter Parker live up to his potential in coming months, [add after IGN interview].

Zeb Wells is teaming with Clayton Crain to bring back Carnage for a five issue miniseries in October. Check out the IGN interview with Wells here.

Tron trailer interlude

Movies and Television Stuff

Linda Hamilton will play Chuck’s mother in the fourth season of the cult favorite series. via i09 .

Steven Spielberg gave panel attendees a glimpse of a trailer for Falling Skies, an alien invasion series premiering next summer and featuring Noah Wyle.

Anne Thompson collects some of the trailers and teasers that premiered at the Con, including Tron, Megamind, and the new Pirates movie.

Alan Ball showed the audience at the True Blood panel footage of upcoming scenes from the current season. In a separate panel, Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse series that the television show is based on, announced that the eponymous protagonist will never become a vampire.

If you’re still watching V , executive producer Scott Rosenbaum leaked some details of season 2. Click through for spoilers.

MTV is bringing the forgotten Teen Wolf franchise to a televsion series starring Tyler Posey.

As reported by a number of outlets, Mark Ruffalo will be portraying the character of Dr. Bruce Banner, a/k/a the Hulk in the Joss Whedon helmed Avengers movie.

Speaking of i09, Annalee Newitz filed a post about Jon Faveau’s upcoming film Cowboys and Aliens on the site that actually made me a little optimistic about the film. I’ll give you four words: Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig.

At the Green Lantern Emerald Empire panel Saturday afternoon, Geoff Johns announced that a Green Lantern animated series would be coming to the Cartoon Network. In other superhero animation news, Brian Bendis will be writing for Animated Ultimate Spider-Man and Peter David will be contributing to the animated version of Young Justice (via iFanboy ).

The great tv critic Alan Sepinwall offers his views on the smaller tv panels in a piece filed for Hitfix.

RED Interlude

Whew! That’s everything that I caught over the last few days. Well, everything but this….

Yes, that’s the Infinity Gauntlet. According to IGN, the Gauntlet will be a part of Odin’s collection of treasures in the upcoming Thor movie. With that, it’s time to take my leave. If there’s anything I missed, or if you have projects that you’re looking forward to, feel free to post in the comments. There’s always a flood of news coming out of these events, and one’s bound to miss something.